Alejandra & Juan

The couple

Alejandra and Juan love the lively, colourful side of Ibiza and wanted their wedding to have the same energy: bright, joyful and full of character rather than formal. Planned by Bliss Ibiza Weddings, the day moved from a village church to a garden restaurant in the island's rural centre, with colour as the thread running through both.

The couple and their wedding party stayed at Safragell Ibiza Suites & Spa, which gave them a quiet, private base for getting ready, with a spa, indoor and outdoor pools and rooms with their own terraces. Its contemporary design suited the style of the wedding.

The ceremony

The ceremony took place in the church of San Lorenzo (Sant Llorenç), a whitewashed village church in the countryside. Greenery framed the arched doorway and ran along the aisle inside, and the couple walked out into a crowd of cheering guests. A church wedding on Ibiza needs paperwork well in advance; the steps are in church and religious ceremonies.

Dinner and party

The reception was at La Paloma, a rustic restaurant with a shaded garden, where every corner has its own character. Long tables ran beneath the trees, painted wooden chairs and patterned plates added to the mood, and the flowers, all from Ibiza, came in loose arrangements of red, orange, pink and purple.

The couple wanted to give their guests something out of the ordinary. During the aperitif a poet sat at a vintage typewriter and wrote a personal poem for anyone who asked, on love, on dreams or on the island itself. The party started at La Paloma with Afro beats that kept people dancing for hours, then moved on to a villa nearby, lit simply with strings of lights, where it carried on late into the night.

The details

• Flowers grown on Ibiza, arranged loosely in bright colours
• Rustic, characterful tableware instead of matching sets
• A typewriter poet as the guests' keepsake
• A two-stage party: the restaurant first, then a nearby villa

Photographer Masha Kart covered the day in a documentary style with a fine-art finish, from the preparations to the church and the garden, keeping the real colours of the island. The couple chose that approach on purpose, to record the day as it was rather than posed.

Good to know

A restaurant reception can feel as personal as a private villa if it already has strong character; here the setting needed only flowers and good tableware. Check how late music can run and have a plan for the after-party, as this couple did by moving to a villa. The church and La Paloma are both in the countryside around Santa Gertrudis and Sant Llorenç, which keeps travel between them short.